The news cycle is impossible to fully track these days. That’s where we come in. The Badlands News Brief is a uniquely curated selection of the stories dominating the info war — with context and commentary from Badlands hosts.
There are sculptures of tortoises scattered around the Supreme Court grounds. They symbolize, the court’s website says, “the slow and steady pace of justice.”
But the court can move fast when it wants to, busting through protocols and conventions. It did so around 1 a.m. on Saturday, blocking the Trump administration from deporting a group of Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members under a rarely invoked 18th-century wartime law.
The court’s unsigned, one-paragraph order was extraordinary in many ways. Perhaps most important, it indicated a deep skepticism about whether the administration could be trusted to live up to the key part of an earlier ruling after the government had deported a different group of migrants to a prison in El Salvador. [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union, racing against the clock, filed its emergency application to the Supreme Court on Friday evening — Good Friday, as it happened — and urged the court to take immediate action to protect the detainees as part of a proposed class action.
The lawyers told the court that they feared their clients could be deported within hours, saying that some had already been loaded onto buses, presumably to be taken to the airport. The Supreme Court did act fast. “The government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this court,” the order said. – The New York Times
For much of the last five years, the fine federal judges of Texas were slandered and maligned. They were called rogue, partisan hacks. Egged on by pundits on social media, these judges were targeted for non-stop attacks. Their chambers were blitzed with calls. They received countless misconduct complaints. Billboards were plastered with their faces. They were subject to repeated death threats, which led to criminal indictments. This conduct was far worse than any pizzas delivered to judges. How did the federal judiciary respond to these actions? By trying to ram down an illegal rule to take away their cases. And the threats were met with silence.
The reality is very different. For sure, plaintiffs forum shopped, but the Biden Administration never argued that venue was improper. And when these judges issued national injunctions or vacaturs, they stayed their rulings to permit the government to take a timely appeal. The Fifth Circuit moved promptly, and decided cases on its emergency docket to permit a timely appeal to the Supreme Court. It is fair to criticize these rulings on their substance, but over the four years of the Biden Administration, I think Texas judges largely followed fair procedures.
The second Trump administration has brought on a different wave of problems. District judges have permitted suits against the federal government for damages that should clearly have been brought in the Court of Federal Claims. Habeas actions brought on the east coast should have clearly been brought in Texas where the prisoners were confined. Actions seeking reinstatement of federal employees should have clearly been brought in the MSPB and other civil service forums. Judges have certified class actions during ex parte TRO hearings without any regard for Rule 23. And so on.
At every instance, judges in these cases abandoned any pretense of process formalism. Even as they denied Trump the presumption of substantive regularity, courts themselves abandoned any presumption of procedural regularity. – Reason
Our Take:
What are the consequences of the Trump administration ignoring this order?
Not only is it unconstitutional but this is not enforceable. –
Another Take: This weekend was wild before SCOTUS. The courts are over their skis, and we are well into unprecedented territory.
The ACLU essentially skipped the Fifth Circuit by giving the court an ultimatum to rule within 42 minutes. That’s not really a thing that parties can do in court, but apparently the ACLU has some special privileges that the rest of us don’t.
Inexplicably, SCOTUS rewarded this stunning breach, giving the ACLU what it wanted. The Reason piece — which I highly recommend — ends with this:
“John Roberts is ill equipped to keep the Court away from an actual constitutional crisis. At this point, he is squirming in a pit of quick sand. The more he flails his arms, the quicker he will sink. Anyone who reaches out to the Chief will descend just the same.”
My favorite legal shitposter Mike Davis of Article III Project, continues to remind everyone that the courts’ legitimacy depends on people believing in their ability to deliver justice:
“This is shameful lawlessness and cowardice from the conservative justices. You expect this nonsense from the three leftists. Are they trying to destroy the federal judiciary’s legitimacy?”
The government responded to the Supreme Court with 17 pages of fire, clarifying legal authorities and laying out the increasingly complex record of these proceedings. I also highly recommend reading this. You will read how the ACLU seeks to deprive the courts of the critical fact-finding due process demands:
“This Court should deny the application to allow the lower court to resolve applicants’ claims in the first instance. The lower courts have not found critical facts in this case. There has been no fact-finding about the timing, nature, and manner of notice that the government has given AEA detainees. Nor has there been fact-finding in the lower courts concerning which detainees in the putative class have actually tried to seek habeas, and whether any detainees were deprived of that opportunity. Likewise, no court has passed on the legal adequacy of the government’s notice procedures—nor has the government had a chance to defend them. This Court should not make those determinations in the first instance. See Cutter, 544 U.S. at 718 n.7. Instead, the Court should deny the petition and allow the case to proceed in district court.”
Alito and Thomas dissented, with Alito writing (on Easter):
“In sum, literally in the middle of the night, the Court is-sued unprecedented and legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule, without hearing from the opposing party, within eight hours of receiving the application, with dubious factual support for its order, and without providing any explanation for its order.”
We are outside all norms and making history here.
My biggest question is why the ACLU can make such demands on the court and why the US Supreme Court would reward that conduct with unprecedented relief.
Legitimacy is definitely in question.
Who all involved in this case are members of the ACLU? –
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The White House has redirected COVID.gov to a new landing page called "Lab Leak: True Origins of COVID-19," which makes a five-point argument for the theory that COVID-19 originated from a mistaken lab leak in Wuhan, China.
The new site appears to use theories from the final report of the Republican-led Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, released in December 2024. There has never been a consensus or a "smoking gun" to explain what started the pandemic.
The COVID.gov page, as recently as last week, listed resources for testing, treatment, and vaccination against COVID-19, as well as information for Long COVID.
The five pieces of evidence put forth by the White House for the theory include the following assertions: that the "virus possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature," that data shows all cases "stem from a single introduction into humans," that "Wuhan is home to China's foremost SARS research lab," that researchers at that research lab "were sick with COVID-like symptoms in the fall of 2019," and that "if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced." – ABC News
Our Take: If we had a real pandemic it wouldn’t have been circulating in our midst for 4-5 months with no mitigation through the winter while concerts, sporting events, bars, restaurants, and small businesses remained open and busy with the still booming economy.
If we had a real pandemic, the deaths would not have been confined to the hospital following a deadly medical protocol, recorded for profit, diagnosed with tests that didn’t work or upon symptoms that used to be called the flu, which the Very Deadly Pandemic replaced.
If it weren’t for the Experts and the people on TV, if it weren’t for the death counters and the public shame campaign against everyone who wasn’t scared, no one would have even suspected anything was happening and any sickness would’ve been attributed to something else.
Perhaps we would’ve even attempted to discover what that something else was. Maybe someday we will, but not if we still can’t admit society got Hoodwinked. –
A second round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks wrapped up in Rome after four hours on Saturday, with President Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi leading the delegations.
Why it matters: The talks took place with debate still raging within the Trump administration — and between the U.S. and Israel — over whether diplomacy or military strikes are more likely to prevent Tehran from obtaining a bomb. For now, Trump is holding back the hawks, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and focusing on getting a deal.
"I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific. But they can't have a nuclear weapon. And if they have a nuclear weapon, you'll all be very unhappy because your life will be in great danger," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday.
State of play: While the first round last weekend in Oman was focused on setting the tone and format of the talks, U.S. officials said their goal for the second round was to produce a framework for how the negotiations will proceed. – Axios
Israel is considering a “limited strike” on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, despite Washington’s refusal to support military action, Reuters reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The deliberations come as the second round of US-Iran negotiations have concluded in Rome, with expert-level talks expected to continue on April 26 in Oman.
According to Reuters, Israeli officials are weighing a “limited strike” that would require minimal US support – unlike the larger and prolonged bombing campaign previously under consideration.
West Jerusalem reportedly presented Washington with several strike options, “including some with late spring and summer timelines.” A senior Israeli official told the outlet that no final decision had been made.
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that US President Donald Trump had rejected an Israeli proposal for “extensive” strikes, opting instead to pursue diplomacy.
“I’m not in a rush to do it, because I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death, and I’d like to see that. That’s my first option,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. – RT
Our Take: Well, it appears to be happening: The rift forming inside the Trump administration between the private sector businessmen and the Establishment Republicans is fueling uncertainty regarding the Iran situation, with the group of business businessmen seeking peace while Establishment Republicans are seeking war – and potentially subverting President Trump in the process.
Another Barak Ravid article from last week details who falls on which side, crediting Vice President Vance as the leader of the businessman group which includes Steve Witkoff, Pete Hegseth, and Tucker Carlson (but also Adam Boehler). The group of NeoCons lives up to its name, including Mike Waltz, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, and Tom Cotton, and they have thrown their full weight behind Netanyahu.
More interesting signal from Ravid's article is the tension spun out from Netanyahu’s troubled meeting with Trump at the White House.
As I said last week, the Israeli government will not tolerate Iran running any sort of a nuclear program, including a civil power plant. Not only is this position asinine, but it would require a true moral degenerate to carry it out.
So now that Trump and Witkoff have sued for peace with Iran, we are suddenly hit with a new narrative that Bibi is considering a strike on Iran, independent of Trump and the West.
If only Trump had an upcoming opportunity to meet publicly with the other most powerful man in the world (Vladimir Putin,) in a setting where the host country had considerable influence, and was well-positioned in the region to help mitigate a potentially larger war – somebody like Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Trump and Putin together, standing side-by-side on stage is a political reckoning that I doubt we’ve ever witnessed before.
The United States is prepared to recognize Russia’s control over Crimea as part of a broader peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv, Bloomberg reported on April 18, citing people familiar with the matter.
The potential concession signals President Donald Trump’s desire to secure a ceasefire deal. Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated on April 18 that the administration may abandon its peace-brokering efforts if negotiations fail to progress soon.
In late February 2014, Russian troops without military insignia invaded Ukraine's Crimea. Through much of February, Russia had quietly increased its troop presence on the peninsula. They blocked off airports in Sevastopol and Simferopol and seized the Crimean Parliament building.
They also blocked Ukrainian military bases located on the peninsula. Ukrainian troops didn't receive an order to shoot at Russian troops.
In March 2014, the Russian-controlled Crimean parliament voted to hold a "referendum" to join Russia. The sham voting on annexation was conducted in the absence of any international observers and with armed Russian soldiers present at polling locations. – The Kyiv Independent
US President Donald Trump has expressed hope that Russia and Ukraine could reach a peace agreement within days, suggesting that both nations could instead turn their attention to trade with the United States. The statement follows remarks from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who hinted that Washington may abandon its mediation efforts unless tangible progress is made.
“HOPEFULLY RUSSIA [and] UKRAINE WILL MAKE A DEAL THIS WEEK,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Sunday. “BOTH WILL THEN START TO DO BIG BUSINESS WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WHICH IS THRIVING, AND MAKE A FORTUNE!”
The 30-hour Easter truce, declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin, expired on Monday. The Kremlin confirmed there were no plans for an extension, and both sides have accused each other of breaching the agreement. The Russian Defense Ministry reported around 1,300 violations, including artillery strikes and drone attacks.
Since taking office in January, Trump has repeatedly emphasized his desire to broker an end to the conflict “as soon as possible.” – RT
Our Take: Trump refuses to back Israeli strikes on Iran as the Saudis meet with Iran on security deals.
Trump offers to pull Russian sanctions while recognizing the Crimea as Russian territory.
Observing the current Battlespace without considering the Sovereign Alliance must be strange. –
Another Take: We are hurling, full speed, toward a Trump and Putin bromance, and the moment couldn’t have come at a more dire inflection point.
It is becoming more and more clear that certain elements inside the US government want war, no matter what. The mandate Putin has imposed on himself to liberate the people of eastern Ukraine is non-negotiable, and securing stability and security for the country is the most logical and righteous solution.
It seems that a peaceful solution may be subverted and prevented until Putin and Trump meet face to face, and Trump is allowed to do what he does best: Negotiate.
How many career politicians, bureaucrats, and useless media figures are going to be exposed in the process? –
Alexander Dugin argues that Trump’s rise represents a deeper, tech-driven ideological shift aimed at accelerating humanity towards the singularity by dismantling liberal globalism through a powerful alliance between populist and tech-right forces.
Analyzing how Donald Trump managed to rise to power in the United States and initiate a genuine revolution against the decades-long course of liberal globalism raises many serious questions, especially when considering the factor of the deep state. Indeed, Trumpists have declared outright war against this deep state, launched it, and already achieved several significant victories — such as the closure of USAID alone.
Trumpists have a very clear definition of the “deep state.” It is a ruling elite adhering to liberal-democratic ideology (both left-wing and neoconservative), deeply entrenched within the U.S. government and supported by financial, military, and high-tech oligarchies, with its networks permeating intelligence agencies. This elite has tied the fate of America and the entire West to globalism, unipolarity, and the planetary spread of woke ideology, which includes legalizing perversions, forced ethnic mixing through promoted mass migration, and weakening sovereign nation-states.
Trump put forward a diametrically opposed ideology — the MAGA ideology. It rests on fundamentally opposite principles: traditional values, a normal understanding of gender distribution (there are only men and women), protecting peoples from mass migration, especially illegal immigration, strengthening sovereignty, preserving nation-states, and recognizing a multipolar world (which Trump refers to as the “Great Power Order”).
What we see is an ideological and even geopolitical revolution, given the consequences such a paradigm shift has for international politics. – Alexander Dugin on Substack
Our Take:“If this interpretation is correct, many things become clearer. Primarily, we understand precisely which force, and for what far-reaching purposes, allowed Trump to win (examples of how elections can be prevented include the 2020 U.S. election and current European politics). Secondly, it explains why resistance from the deep state was relatively easy to overcome: one segment of it (the high-tech sector and certain factions within the security and intelligence communities) had already been ideologically reformed according to the principles of the “Dark Enlightenment.” Finally, it clarifies why Trump is acting so decisively: it is not simply a matter of temperament but a global plan to accelerate the progression of time itself. This transcends mere populism; it is philosophy, strategy, and even metaphysics.”
Dugin recognizes the existence of the deeper layer of the Deep State and the ongoing presence of the Regime’s infiltration into all sides. –
China played host to what, presumably, was the world’s first robot and human half-marathon. You can check out the action and the Tiangong Ultra robot that won in the video below. The event took place in Beijing and spanned 21.1 km. There was, however, a barrier between lanes for humans and machines.
The human rules were the same as you’d expect, but the robots did need a few concessions, such as battery swap stops. The winning ‘bot crossed the finish line in just over 160 minutes. However, there were awards for endurance, gait design, and design innovation.
Humans still took the top spots, though. We also noted that some of the robots had issues where they lost control or had other problems. Even the winner fell down once and had three battery changes over the course.
Of the 21 robots that started, only six made the finish line. We don’t know how many of the 12,000 humans finished, but we are pretty sure it was more than six, so we don’t think runners have to worry about robot overlords yet. But they’re getting better all the time. – Hackaday
Our Take: They probably have super soldier robots, like in Iron Man, but expect us to believe that these toys mean we don’t “have to worry about robot overlords yet.”
By the time we get to experience the technology, defense contractors and their nation states have had it for generations.
The marathon robots are toys.
But imagine what’s possible, the applications of robots among us and the implications of that world…then realize that the people with power – allies and enemies alike – have had these technologies for generations.
It’s a brave new world.
Moral and upright people need to pursue careers in STEM. –
Joe Rogan ripped into Katy Perry and her all-female Blue Origin space flight amid intense backlash over the brief trip aboard Jeff Bezos’ rocket.
“Hey Tim Dillion, I’m much better now that the ladies are back from space, thank you,” Rogan said at the beginning of his podcast released Saturday. “It was very profound. I don’t know if you’ve seen Katy Perry talk about it, but she’s basically a guru now,” he said.
Last Monday, Perry rode alongside former NASA engineer Aisha Bowe, astronaut Amanda Nguyễn, CBS morning host Gayle King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and the billionaire’s fiancée Lauren Sánchez.
Rogan mocked Perry for bringing up a daisy with her during her trip, which she flashed to the cameras as the crew floated around the capsule.
“She brought a daisy, which is super important. It shows you how quick the flight was,” Rogan said. “The dead daisy that’s like snipped from its life source was still alive or still vibrant.” – New York Post
Our Take: My thoughts on Rockets & Thots?
Some time ago, I said that the alien question was too dumb to ponder because:
A) If aliens are fake, they're gay for not existing.
B) If aliens are real, they're gay for hiding.
I would apply the same cipher to virtually all space deployments. –
US President Donald Trump is planning to cut an additional $1 billion in health research funding for Harvard University, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, as the administration's row with elite schools escalates.
The Trump administration has already withheld government funding from Harvard, Columbia and other universities in response to the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in what the White House has labelled a failure to control antisemitism on campus.
Harvard pushed back last week, rejecting demands for control of its student body, faculty and curriculum, saying that would cede control of the university to the government.
Soon after Harvard's reaction, the Trump administration announced it would freeze $2.2 billion in multi-year grants to the school and threatened to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status.
Trump also publicly denounced the university, saying that Harvard is a “joke” and “disgrace” on two separate occasions. – Hindustan Times
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has proposed a prisoner exchange with Venezuela, offering to repatriate hundreds of Venezuelans who were deported from the United States in exchange for “political prisoners.”
In a post on X, Bukele offered to exchange 252 Venezuelans currently detained in El Salvador’s mega prison for “an identical number (252) of the thousands of political prisoners” he says Venezuela holds, including family members of opposition leaders.
“Unlike our detainees, many of whom have committed murder, others have committed rape, and some have even been arrested multiple times before being deported, your political prisoners have committed no crime,” Bukele said in the post, which was directed at Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro. “The only reason they are imprisoned is because they opposed you and your electoral fraud.”
The US and El Salvador say most of the deportees locked up in El Salvador’s Cecot prison are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and some are members of the MS-13 Salvadoran gang. – CNN
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What a weekend...thank God that in the midst of it all: He is Risen!!!
BB: "Observing the current Battlespace without considering the Sovereign Alliance must be strange."
If you will allow me: Observing the millennia old battle of God's created order versus the duly inserted "ruler" of the age (inserted as the result of the single bad choice of the first Man) must be even stranger. The Bible refers to the system of systems as "Babylon". It is a system that is described as centering on three pillars: religion, politics/governance, and economy/trade. All of that is in the Bible and it is there to give us (those whom He loves and has offered resolution (as this last weekend commemorated) for our on-going bad choices ever since that first one) insight into the real battle. The Spiritual warfare for which we have often be reminded to put on the full armor of God.
To me: trying to navigate (even with the idea of a "Sovereign Alliance") what is (and has been) going on in the hearts and minds and lives of Mankind over the millennia would not only be strange, it would be overwhelming.
God wins is not a trite motto - neither is His desire that we join Him in overcoming!!
Just because we can perform gain of function research, it doesn't mean we should. Look what happened. And just because we can manufacture metal robots that can sorta run a little bit, it doesn't mean we should. Of course they don't measure up to us. They weren't created by Our Creator. They're the product of Junk Science: they're "clinking, clanking, clattering collections of calinginois junk" (Wizard of Oz). I hope they can be recycled into something useful, though, like cookware or brake pads.
What a weekend...thank God that in the midst of it all: He is Risen!!!
BB: "Observing the current Battlespace without considering the Sovereign Alliance must be strange."
If you will allow me: Observing the millennia old battle of God's created order versus the duly inserted "ruler" of the age (inserted as the result of the single bad choice of the first Man) must be even stranger. The Bible refers to the system of systems as "Babylon". It is a system that is described as centering on three pillars: religion, politics/governance, and economy/trade. All of that is in the Bible and it is there to give us (those whom He loves and has offered resolution (as this last weekend commemorated) for our on-going bad choices ever since that first one) insight into the real battle. The Spiritual warfare for which we have often be reminded to put on the full armor of God.
To me: trying to navigate (even with the idea of a "Sovereign Alliance") what is (and has been) going on in the hearts and minds and lives of Mankind over the millennia would not only be strange, it would be overwhelming.
God wins is not a trite motto - neither is His desire that we join Him in overcoming!!
PS - (https://www.hisgloriousvictory.com/book)
Just because we can perform gain of function research, it doesn't mean we should. Look what happened. And just because we can manufacture metal robots that can sorta run a little bit, it doesn't mean we should. Of course they don't measure up to us. They weren't created by Our Creator. They're the product of Junk Science: they're "clinking, clanking, clattering collections of calinginois junk" (Wizard of Oz). I hope they can be recycled into something useful, though, like cookware or brake pads.